June 26, 2016 : True Blue Crew & Co ~versus~ Melbourne

Despite S C R E A M I N G ! headlines, the day was relatively uneventful, with relatively small crowds (a few hundred people in total), very few, minor clashes on the margins, and an overwhelming police presence. Two counter-protesters were arrested in Carlton Gardens as police responded to the burning (or attempted burning) of a handful of flags, while one or two PUFers also got arrest.

In terms of numbers, approximately 100 or so members and supporters of the Bendigo- and Melton-based ‘True Blue Crew’ (TBC) and the ‘United Patriots Front’ (UPF) — along with various other racist and fascist dregs — assembled near Parliament House (Parliament Gardens) this morning, intending to rally outside the building at 11.30am and then to march thru the CBD. Perhaps 2-300 other people attended a counter-rally at the same location.

Prevented from occupying the space outside Parliament, the TBC & Co were instead escorted by police up Nicholson Street to the Carlton Gardens and Royal Exhibition Building. There, kettled by police, they gathered outside the main (southern) entrance, where they waved flags and chanted. My favourite patriotik chant — undertaken with great gusto from within the kettle — was ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’

LOL.

Confined to the area immediately outside the main southern entrance to Royal Exhibition Building, the << facho >> held a static demo for the better part of an hour, surrounded by police, media, and bewildered tourists. At around 1.30pm, the police permitted the small group to leave, escorting them the brief distance from the building to the corner of Nicholson and Gertrude. About half jumped on a charter bus (Bendigo Bus Company; registration number 0401 AC) — presumably to piss off back to Bendigo and Melton — while the remainder (about 40-50 people) were escorted by police the short distance to Parliament station, where they (presumably) jumped on a train.

The last time the UPF rallied in Melbourne they attracted a crowd of about 40 or so; the fact that only roughly that number assembled again today suggests that they’ve failed to build in the intervening period.

Politics makes for strange bedfellows. Thus I should add that the TBC and UPF’s numbers were heavily supplemented by members and supporters of Danny Nalliah’s Catch the Fire Ministries/Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP). Both party leader Danny Nalliah and VP Rosalie Crestani addressed the gathering, the Jesus freaks joining the Jew-haters in patriotik unity. Other familiar faces included a handful of Party for Freedom supporters: Toby ‘Golden Dawn’ Cook and George Jameson. Indeed, local PFF supporter Hong Shen was at one point given the great honour of leading the racist schmucks. LOL. For further information on the PFF and its handful of members, see : Anti Fascist Action Sydney on the Party for Freedom. Old mate Phill Galea made an appearance (but failed to blow up, cattle prod or Tase any body), as did (ex-?) PUFer Linden Watson, Tim Wakeling, UPF leaders Blair Cottrell and Thomas Sewell and TBC level boss Kane Miller.

See also : The Goddam Election! with John Safran (SBS, June 26, 2016) : ‘John Safran investigates the micro parties contesting the 2016 Australian Federal Election, revealing bizarre alliances that [upend] perceptions of Australian multiculturalism, uncovering what could be the most religious election ever. As the nation heads towards a neck-and-neck election, the micro parties supported by Australia’s religious minorities could end up with a balance of power. Join Safran as he cracks the lid on unlikely alliances and surprising frenemies in his inimitable style.’

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2017 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.

Ur fkn dreaming! Tbc marched straight up to parliament house and police protected the left getting stomped again like they got stomped in coburg a couple weeks earlier. the left numbers were way down (in fear of being next to be educated by tbc is my guess) and the tbc’s attendance had grown again with several other groups wanting to be part of the tbc family to smash the left soon as they start.

At each of these gatherings both sides claim police protection of their opponents. That tells me that the police are protecting the peace. Not saying that is always the case but so far both sides come across as childish since ideology isn’t physically smashable.

Lies. I was at Parliament, in amongst the Left rally & the Fash didn’t come anywhere near us. The cops had them kettled well away around in the gardens & then marched the Fash away from us, as Slackbastard says. All we saw of them was some flags in the distance.

The main body of the CARF rally stayed at Parliament until we had confirmation that the Fash had dispersed. We then had a victory march through the streets to the State Library. A small contingent of Antifa left the main rally to try to get through to the Fash. I considered it an inappropriate action, since the balance of forces didn’t allow for this to be successful. The Antifa were never going to be in a position to break the police lines sufficiently. The bulk of the CARF rally were never going to go along and, even if we did, we were still unlikely to get through to the Fash. We had achieved the aim we set ourselves originally, which was to prevent the Fash from marching on Parliament. Anything more would have been the icing on the cake – and we didn’t have the forces on the ground to achieve it.

If you had trebled the CARF rally, we would have been able to march on the Fash & the coppers wouldn’t have been able to stop us. With the same size CARF rally, the Antifa would have needed double their numbers to have a show of penetrating the police lines & giving the Fash a dose of reasonable force. I make my latter calculation because a fair number of coppers would have been needed to stay at Parliament to keep us from joining in.

Were there any charges* arising from the flag burning? If so, I’d like to know what the charge(s) is/are. There are no laws against destroying your own property – even if that property is a piece of cloth to which assorted flag-wits have an emotional attachment.

* It’s not uncommon for coppers to arrest someone at a demo “on suspicion” of committing some offence, only to release them without charge later – after achieving their real objective, which was to remove them from the demo.

I can only speak for myself, but I’m yet to be swayed by prowess of thuggery, Henry. It’s a shitty score-card that leaves no progress made, the stadium burnt and the footy deflated and a bunch of blokes and their sons milling aimlessly. Hopefully the women have gone off to do something productive. I hope we can rise above it.

“Hopefully the women have gone off to do something productive”? Get fucked, Daedelum. Yeah, ’cause the only militant antifascists are “blokes and their sons”, and women neither enjoy nor engage in scraps. It’s fun being on the same side as centre-left tossers like you who like to dress the grotty social conservatism of their gendered expectations up as a respect for the better natures of women.

Being deluded is a prerequisite for being a fascist. We out numbered the neo-Nazis and far right on June 26th. Their aim was to hold a rally at Parliament and then have a race-hate march through the city harassing anyone who didn’t fit their idea of what it is to be “Australian”. We occupied the space instead thus preventing them from marching. The cops weren’t protecting us. When we got news that the fascists got back on the bus we had a victory march through the city.